Ne-Yo Fires Back at Critics Who Say He's Gone Pop

Ne-Yo has been criticized for “going pop” with his dance singles including “Closer” and his latest “Let Me Love You.” But the Grammy-winning crooner has some words for those who say he’s lost touch with his R&B roots.

During a visit to Angie Martinez’ Hot 97 show, Ne-Yo shot back at his critics. “I normally don’t do this. I’ve officially declared myself above the B.S. in regard to bloggers and people that say silly stuff on blogs,” he said before speaking his mind. “I need to get at some people directly.”

While his sound has evolved throughout the years, it was R&B that paved the way for his growth. “Somebody said something along the lines of, ‘How can you say that R&B is still alive when you’ve crossed over into this pop world?'” said Ne-Yo. “And that kind of upset me because what ya’ll don’t understand is that it was R&B that gave me the platform to even be able to do a song like ‘Let Me Love You,’ to do a song like ‘Closer,’ a song like ‘Beautiful Monster,’ the Calvin Harris record [‘Let’s Go].”

He plans to silence his critics when his fifth album R.E.D. drops on September 18. “I know where I came from. I know that R&B is where it started at for me,” he explained. “When this new album comes out, it will shut the mouths of everybody who feels like I have ‘crossed over.'”

Instead of limiting himself to one genre, he intends to cater to all his fans. “I’ve just paid attention to the fact that I have a very broad fan base. I have my diehard R&B fans, I got my pop fans,” said Ne-Yo. “This album is an equal mix of both. If there’s six R&B records, then there’s six pop records so that everybody can come to the same damn concert and stay for the whole damn show.”